Watch Toronto's new artificial river come to life in stunning aerial video
An exciting engineering undertaking in Toronto’s Port Lands continues to captivate the public. The once-barren wasteland is springing back to life with new parks and a human-made river due for completion in Summer 2025.
The rerouted Don River mouth snaking through the formerly industrial lands is shaping up to be the highlight of the City’s $1.3 billion Port Lands Flood Protection Project (PLFP), and new footage of the artificially formed waterway and new Villiers Island landform always generates even more buzz for the massive project.
Just days after a local videographer captured his own aerial views of the project, Waterfront Toronto has shared an even more detailed drone-shot update showing recent progress in the Port Lands.
The video’s narrator explains that “the new mouth for the Don River the river was flooded in February 2024, but it’s not fully connected to the lake just yet until the parks open next summer.”
Waterfront Toronto explains that, for now, “this new river is closed to the public for safety reasons.”
While you won’t be able to experience the new waterway for yourself until 2025, aerial updates show how the river mouth continues to change in preparation for the big day next year.
The video explains how the north edge of the former Polson Slip “has changed from a straight dock wall to a more natural shoreline that slopes into the water.”
It may be closed off to the public, but this area has already welcomed some surprising residents. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority recently captured a northern pike and pumpkinseed fish in this area, marking the first recorded instance of these species in this part of Lake Ontario.
Other upcoming features of the Port Lands shown off in the video include the giant two-storey raccoon and fake Badlands-themed play areas set to open along with the new parks and river next year.
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